BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEL EDGE
H
ow have the mighty fallen.
After dominating the first
quarter-century of World
Superbike racing, winning 14
World Championships with its
iconic desmo V-twins, in 2013
Ducati suffered its most disas-
trous season in 26 years of Su-
perbike competition, with just
a single podium visit all season
long for the Italian manufacturer.
That came when Ayrton Bado-
vini put his factory 1199 Panigale
RS13 on the rostrum in Mos-
cow, en route to 11th in the final
points table, while Carlos Checa,
his teammate and 2011 World
Champion on the Althea Ducati
1098RS, didn't once trouble the
trophy girls all year long. Indeed,
after rarely crashing on the old
bike, Checa now became a se-
rial faller, as he struggled for grip
while seeking to counter the new
model's lack of horsepower and
especially torque compared to
the ever-improving four-cylinder
opposition. Inevitably, the risks
of seeking to optimize corner-
ing speed caught up with him,
and after breaking his pelvis in
an Istanbul crash he retired from
the sport he'd graced for two de-
cades.
It turned out that Checa wasn't
the only casualty of Ducati's
season to forget, because in
the week after the final race at
Jerez the two-year contract for
Team Alstare was brought to an
VOL. 51 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 19, 2014 P87
